Improving Together for All – Patients, Families, and Healthcare Workers
The Lean Academic Healthcare Conference at Stanford is a place for participants to share their improvement work each year. Everyone must be excited about getting back together as we were overwhelmed with more than 100 abstracts. The reviewers were delighted with the standard of abstracts and the breadth and the depth of the stories that were received. The submissions addressed the conference themes in interesting and thoughtful ways. Examples of clinical improvement, patient flow, daily management systems, leadership and capability development indicate the range of improvement efforts taking place across health services. Submissions were received from California, New York, Hawaii, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin and as far away as Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Of the 100 abstracts received we will hear 27 oral presentations and have the opportunity to view up to 60 poster presentations.
We are excited that our line-up of invited speakers continues to grow. New additions to the program include the following Stanford faculty and staff.
Leilani Schweitzer
PEARL Patient Liaison, Stanford Health Care
In 2005, Leilani Schweitzer’s son Gabriel died after a series of medical errors at Stanford Children’s Hospital. For the last 11 years she has worked on Stanford’s efforts to be transparent and learn after unexpected medical outcomes. Her work with patients, families, care providers and attorneys has given her a unique view of the importance and complex realities of disclosure and transparency. Leilani’s work has been discussed in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and on CNN.com, and Leilani’s TEDx talk about the need for transparency and compassion in healthcare has been viewed more than 188,000 times.Associate Chief Medical Officer, UVA Health and Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Inpatient Operations of the Department of Medicine, University of Virginia.


Daniel J. Murphy, Jr. MD
Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) Emeritus and Co-Chair, Department WellBeing Directors Council, WellMD/PhD Stanford University, School of Medicine
Dr Murphy joined the faculty at Stanford in October 2001 and served as Professor of Pediatrics (Cardiology) at Stanford University School of Medicine, and Medical Director of Ambulatory Services for Stanford Children’s Health and the Medical Director of the Outpatient Heart Center and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. In July 2021 Dr. Murphy transitioned to Emeritus status and is now part of the WellMD team as co-chair of the Department Wellbeing Directors Council. He is also still actively involved with improvement work for the LPCH Heart Center.
Niraj Sehgal, MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer for Stanford Health Care, and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs in the School of Medicine
Niraj’s clinical practice is focused on hospital medicine, while his academic career has been focused on studying and improving the quality and safety of care. The latter reinforces his commitment to emphasizing interprofessional teamwork, building multidisciplinary partnerships, developing healthcare leaders, and advocating for health equity.
Niraj earned his undergraduate degree from Washington University and his medical degree from Rush University. He was a resident and chief resident at Stanford before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, during which time he earned a Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley. He was later a selected fellow and graduate of the California Healthcare Foundation Leadership Program. Despite being in the Bay Area for more than 20 years, he remains deeply connected to his Chicago roots, particularly his beloved Cubs, Bears, and Bulls.

Registration Open
By request we are offering a pre-conference workshop on October 10 for those new to Lean Thinking as an improvement approach. This six hour workshop will be facilitated by the Stanford Health Care improvement team and is now open for registration. Places are limited so register now.
To register, find out more about our speakers, and view our preliminary program please visit our website.
All inquiries to Leanhealth@stanfordchildrens.org
With warm regards
Lean Healthcare Academic Conference Organizing Committee